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why hot dogs are bad for you

4/5 experts say no. Ballgame or no ballgame, hot dogs aren t hot in the health world, according to four of our experts. Hot dogs deliver a nutritional assault in many ways: with ketchup and mustard contains 290 calories and 910 mg of sodium. (On the plus side, you re also getting 11 grams of protein. ) The problem with hot dogs is how they re processed. While there is some debate about the health effects of pure meats, processed meats and all hot dogs fall into that category, some more processed than others are consistently associated with adverse health effects, says Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. Diets high in processed meats have been linked with cancer, especially colorectal cancer. Peter Clifton, professor of nutrition at the University of South Australia, puts it this way: All data says processed meat is bad: more diabetes, higher mortality, more cardiovascular disease, he says. His March Metabolism found that processed foods are associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes compared to red meat, probably partly due to the way that iron interacts with the saturated fat, salt and nitrates an added preservative found in processed meats. Nitrates are of particular concern with cured meats like hot dogs, says Mariana Stern, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Southern California. Nitrates are salts added from synthetic chemicals or natural sources (such as celery juice, which you may find on the labels of so-called uncured or nitrate-free hot dogs).

Regardless of where the nitrates come from, says Stern, they can be converted by oral bacteria intro nitrites, which in turn can react in the stomach to form N-Nitroso compounds, which are well-established cancer-causing agents. Antioxidants can halt this conversion, which is why most hot dogs contain vitamin C, Stern says. However, the amounts in one hot dog may not be enough to prevent the accumulation of N-Nitroso compounds in people with diets high in meat overall, and in particular processed meats, she says. Studies show that the effects of processed meats might be more harmful in people with diets that are overall low in antioxidants. Stern the diets of 1,660 people with bladder cancer and found that bladder cancer risk went up with processed meat consumption. In an April looking at the effects of nitrites in mice, we have shown that addition of nitrite had a neutral, and maybe even protective effect on intestinal tumor development when part of a low-fat diet, says Marianne S dring, a PhD student at the Department of Food Safety and Infection Biology at Norwegian University of Life Sciences. This may suggest that other factors have to be present for nitrite-processed meat to have a cancer-causing effect. There might be an easier way to lower the risks associated with processed meat if you re a rat, at least. Scientists, reporting in the International Journal of Cancer, fed rats hot dogs and watched a particular biomarker for colorectal cancer; the hot dog diet indeed increased signs of this marker, but adding calcium to their diet lessened this effect.

If a rat s diet is loaded with calcium, a hotdog diet does not boost cancer anymore in rats, says study author Denis Corpet, professor of food hygiene and human nutrition in the French National School of Veterinary Medicine in Toulouse. In people, this would translate in having a yogurt each time we get a pair of sausages. If you want to indulge in the occasional dog (plus or minus the yogurt), S dring the lone hot dog defender has some parting words of encouragement. As a bonus, from an environmental standpoint, one might say that hot dogs contribute to sustainable food production, she says, because a much larger part of the animal, not just the prime cuts, is utilized. During the summer you have one very important question: or? I won't go as far as saying that your answer determines your personality (though I want to), but I will say that I'll probably judge you if I see you passing up a patty for a dog. Here's why I don't think you ever lay your hands on one: 1. THEY CONTAIN GROSS SH*T. Don't believe me? In a brilliant, bold move, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to learn what foreign objects people had reported finding in the diggity dogs. The ones that should make you want to hurl most (and never order another dog again)? A clump of hair (maybe eyelashes) and a silverfish (yes, the insect). 2. THEY'RE BASICALLY SALTY DOGS. One link sets you back a whopping 600 milligrams, which is nearly half of what the Dietary Guidelines of America recommends for a mindful daily salt intake. 3.

THEY MAY CAUSE CANCER. Yeah, yeah, you're no stranger to the negative press that hot dogs get, but the findings are real: Diets high in processed meats have been linked directly to cancer, particularly colon cancer. You're likely familiar with the naughty "N" word in hot dogs, too. Nitrates are the real enemy, which can have a reaction in the stomach that forms cancer-causing compounds. 4. THEY'RE MADE OF TRIMMINGS. That juicy dog meat isn't made up of anything worthy of a single bite. After a pork production plant carves steaks and chops, the trimmings which make up the dogs are scraped into a stainless steel vat. YUM. 5. WHICH ARE MEAT SMOOTHIES. Mmm, how delicious does that sound? Before the hot dogs are baked, they're a thick, smooth mixture that resembles a liver mousse, but is so not that. 6. JOEY CHESTNUT. PERIOD. Sorry, Joey, we do respect your dog-eating. err. talent, but we just can't watch it anymore! It's too painful to see the sweat and near-choking that goes on as you drown the competition. The Internet has officially seen enough images of you though it's damn near impossible to unsee any of them. 7. THAT WATER IS JUST TOO MUCH. It might be because I live in NYC, where I see tubs of warm dirty hot dog water sitting in street carts, but I'm not overlooking the salty liquid that's in the bottom of the package. Follow Delish on.